mixing songs with 2-tracked music

[wikkedwiz]

Hello all..........This is my first post so I'll try to be brief(hopefully) ...I have a comment first and then a question.....I am mixing 10 songs(rap music) in Pro-Tools in which all of the sessions were recorded with the music being 2-track stereo....I asked the owner of the acquired music did he have the separated tracks and he said "No....All of the music was sent to me on cd......(in other words as an audio cd with no way to make adjustments to the music)......Oh what a dilemma.....each different producer had their own idea of what their music should sound like...1 song might be kick heavy with everything else in the back .....1 song might be bassline heavy with the kick drum and and claps/snare wayyyyyy in the back ...You guys get where I'm going right?......there are even some songs that has pops and clicks in the music (especially at the beginning before that particular song cranks up)

I cherish my work because of course this is the way I make my living and because I didn't have the opportunity to tweak any music and make it sparkle accordingly, I almost backed out of the project altogether but I needed the money and the client pays well ......And now for my question(s).....(1)Have any of you guys had this sort of problem? (regardless of whether it was with rap music or not) and (2) is there anything during the mastering process that can help solve these subtleties?............Thanx for reading guys and any comments/feedback would be helpful..............

P.S.
The client likes the work(they say that they are truly pleased with the mixes compared to the end of session bounce that they were use to listening to) although I know better

[DrJones]

Yeah! I have a client that has and is still bringing me 2-track music from the '70. He dumped it from cassette to cd and gives it to me. I am also a pro tools user and there is no software or plugin that can do anything about the mix. It is what it is! The only thing you can do is EQ, if it is bass heavy cut some lows 80-100hz. If is kick heavy try to cut 4-5k w/o effecting key or guitar or whatever. Do the best you can to get the lows and highs between songs the same, nevermind themix because IT IS WHAT IT IS! That is the best advice I can give you.

[wikkedwiz]

thanx Doc............Anyone else had these issues?

[FALKEN]

a friend of mine was watching mtv one day and heard his track...on a very famous rapper's song. apparently it got around and they used it. of course he never supplied his separated out tracks to the producer, they just took the demo off of the CD. that is what you hear on the radio, etc. it sounds to me like they basically just compressed the living crap out of it, aside from re-looping some sections, adding some breaks, etc. anwayz the average listener is not going to notice these differences in the same way you do. in fact, in many modern rap cd's, the songs exhibit the same dis-coherence that you are describing. i mean, imagine a pharrel track next to little john. totally different, yet they are on the same CD's together. I agree with the comments about eq. some eq, compression, and perhaps some verb might get you a little more "uniform" sounding, but variety isn't a bad thing, either. my .02.

[wikkedwiz]

Falken I dig where you are coming from....thanx homie